David Crossland is facing the most difficult period of a career journey which has taken him from travel agent to head of UK holiday company MyTravel.

Mr Crossland has uncovered a hole in the company's accounts - and has warned that the accounting problems and poor sales will cut as much as �50m off profits this year.

David Crossland's shares

Worth �37m on Wednesday Worth �6.4m on Thursday

Investors reacted with horror and the share price plummeted more than 82% before clawing back some of its losses.

Mr Crossland has now put his retirement on hold to save the business he built from scratch.

He has also appointed the head of his North America operation, Peter McHugh, as the new chief executive.

Investors get their scalp

The two men are now working to restore confidence in the company.

MyTravel, which used to be called Airtours, seems to have been stumbling from one problem to another this year.

Crossland wanted to see MyTravel in the FTSE 100

In May, it warned that it could end the year in the red because of a slump in bookings following the 11 September terrorist attacks.

Then, at the end of this September, it surprised investors by announcing that profits could be cut by �15m because of a change in the way it accounted for insurance policy sales.

That news sent shares 36% lower to 81.5p, but Mr Crossland denied a suggestion that the business was starting to look accident prone.

And he defended chief executive Tim Byrne and other senior staff.

"As largest shareholder in this group they have my total support," Mr Crossland said.

But other investors wanted a scalp, and just a week later the company announced that Mr Byrne was leaving by mutual consent after less than two years in the job.

Takeover target

Mr Crossland, who lives in Jersey, had been due to retire in November. But he said he would stay on to run the company.

MyTravel brands

Going Places Late Escapes Airtours Holidays Cresta Aspro Bridge

He started the business 30 years ago when he bought a Lancashire travel agency which had two stores.

By 1980 he had built up the travel agency and started offering package holidays.

When Airtours floated on the London stock market in 1987 its shares stood at 180p.

At one point it was the world's biggest holiday business, worth �2bn, but on Thursday its stock market value fell to just �28m.

Mr Crossland's aim was to see the company he built up in the FTSE 100 index of leading shares.

Just three years ago Airtours attempted to take over its rival First Choice, a tie-up that was blocked by the European Commission.

Now Airtours itself looks like a takeover target.